In fact, the most recent research proves that optimal vitamin D levels are strongly linked to improved sports performance and lower injury rates among competitive athletes.

Are you deficient in vitamin D3?

A study presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons found that only 25% of Division I college athletes had optimal vitamin D3 levels. That means 75% were deficient.At Core 4 Nutrition, we’ve been assessing the vitamin D3 levels of hundreds of non-collegiate athletes for the past five years. And only 10% of those tested have had an optimal level of vitamin D!

Enhance Muscular RecoveryIn order to train for long periods of time, you must be able to recover quickly. Studies have found that vitamin D3 helps muscles recover faster—and more completely.

Increase Muscle ForceResearch has suggested that vitamin D3 supplementation will lead to increased power output in vitamin D deficient individuals.

Improve Balance Vitamin D3 is involved with balance—the ability to maintain a vertical center line with minimal postural sway. Recent research has shown that those with optimal levels of vitamin D (55 ng/ml) had significantly better balance than their vitamin D deficient counterparts.

This study correlates with an earlier study of 600 female Navy recruits who were found to have a twice the risk of stress fractures of the tibia and fibula with a vitamin D3 level of less than 20 ng/ml compared to those with concentrations above 40 ng/ml.

Based on these findings, Dr. Jason Miller, a foot and ankle surgeon from Premier Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Pennsylvania, recommends that all athletes (especially those participating in higher-impact sports) maintain a vitamin D3 level of at least 40 ng/ml.

It’s time to take action!

1. Assess your vitamin D3 level.

Consult with your health practitioner, or order our convenient, at-homevitamin D3 assessment. Ideally, your result should confirm a vitamin D3 level between 50 and 60 ng/ml.

2. Boost your body’s ability to produce vitamin D.

If possible, get 20 to 30 minutes of regular, full-body and mid-day sun exposure a couple of times each week. The use of a sun exposure meter can help you determine your personal rate of exposure. A simple device like this (available on Amazon for $5.00) will do the trick.

When you can't enough sun, supplement with RemeD—our highly-effective, sublingual spray. Use one spray per 30 pounds of body weight in conjunction with vitamin K. I recommend this formula from the Life Extension Foundation.

3. Re-assess your vitamin D3 level.

After three or four months, check your level again. Remember, you level will naturally be higher in late summer and early fall; it will reach its lowest point during the winter months.

This will be the first periodic post of a our Core 4 Nutrition Education Series. In these posts, which will all be found atCore 4 Nutrition Blog, I will be discussing in detail the what, how and why of the four critical factors that we have found time and time again that people need to optimize in order to look, feel and perform at their best. These factors include vitamin D, omega 3 fatty acids, whole-food derived antioxidantsincluding nitric oxide and whole-food derived micronutrients.

So let’s get started with our topic for today, what is a fatty acid and maybe more important, why should you care?

For many years, fats have had a bad reputation because of incomplete or incorrect information. The reality is that fats are essential for life and we should not be afraid of them. To better understand how fats contribute to your good health, it is essential to understand that there are two very different kinds of fats—the good fats that our bodies need and the bad fats that cause degenerative disease....

A few weeks ago, I shared the amazing fact that lobsters do not age, they get bigger, stronger and more virile as they get older. In fact, they never die unless they acquire a rare disease, are injured or are eaten!

The reason for this amazing feat of longevity is lobsters have the innate ability to lengthen their telomeres. As you may or may not know, telomeres are the protective end caps of our chromosomes, which naturally shorten as we age. When telomeres become too short, they fail to protect our chromosomes. The function of our cells becomes impaired and they begin to make mistakes as they replicate themselves. These mistakes are the reason we age. Check out the post.

Measuring the length of your telomeres can reveal your true biological age. And knowing the length of your telomeres can provide answers to questions like:

Is your dietary strategy on target? Are you taking enough of the right kind of nutritional supplements? Is the stress of life beginning to take its toll? Is a chronic lack of sleep wearing you down? Were you given the genetic gift of naturally-long telomeres or is your body aging prematurely?

While there are now several different telomere assessment options, the "gold standard" in testing is offered by Lifelength Lab in Spain. Life Length’s TAT®test is by far the most accurate and reliable telomere measurement tool in the world. You can learn more about the Lifelength TAT® assessment in this 5 minute video. And more about telomeres on their website at http://lifelength.com.

I haven’t written the last two weeks because I was in the process of moving back to California from Michigan. After spending five solid days packing, two straight days with the movers, and almost an entire day looking for our missing cat, Pikaboo, I took off on a pilgrimage across eight states.

Funny Aside: I do believe that names can influence personality traits, particularly when it comes to pets. If there were a competition, our family cat, Pikaboo, would surely be crowned the world champion of Hide and Go Seek. She found a way to hide from me for almost an entire day—in a small house with absolutely no furniture in it. I literally searched every nook and cranny of the house (at least eight times) and just as I was about to lose hope, I decided to give it one more go. On my ninth and last attempt, I found her in the back of a built-in bathroom cabinet. She figured out how to open the cabinet door and wedge herself at the very back, which made it nearly impossible to see her. A slight flick of the tail is what finally gave her away.

Interesting Aside: Since I have moved back and forth between the two coasts several times at this point in my life, this was not my first cross-country drive. But I remember my first time very clearly. It was exactly 13 years, 7 months and 27 days ago on September 11, 2001. As fate had it, I was at Logan Airport flying from Boston to the West Coast on the morning of the 911 bombings. To make a long story short, I literally obtained the last rental car at Logan and not knowing (no smart phones) what was going on, began driving west. Sixty six hours later, I found myself in Bellingham, Washington. Totally unprepared, a bit afraid, and wanting to get home to my wife and two young children, I survived the trip on adrenaline, subway chicken sandwiches, and truck stop coffee

Thirteen years, later my tactics for the drive have evolved significantly.

I cringe at the thought of eating Subway’s GMO, gluten, and antibiotic-laden, food-like substances and drinking truck stop coffee, loaded with poisonous mycotoxins. While they squelched my hunger and helped me stay awake, I know that my body—and mind—paid a price for the short-term fix.

For this trip, I was well prepared. And while my plan was not perfect, the trip went so smoothly that I completed the journey—with no hotel stops—in record time. After a good night’s sleep, I not only felt fine the next day but my nitric oxide level (a marker of physiological health and fitness) stayed well within optimal range.

I was preparing to write a post to share more info on the critical importance of telomere health and let you know that there now only two spots left for now in our Core 4 Longevity Club,but just as was going to write, this post from a colleague and former mentor, Dr. Dave Woynarowski, a medical pioneer and successful long-term user of telomere supporting protocols, hit my inbox.

I hope you take a moment to read this well-written piece. Then take a moment to follow the links to learn more about how it is now possible to measure and even restore youthful telomere length...

And if you want to join us in the Longevity Club before it closes for a few months, shoot me an email or call me personally at 360.450.3768 to discuss. All of our current members, are all doing very well and anxiously awaiting are new upgraded Live Long formula...

Congratulations to Flavia Oliveira for an extraordinary race in the Woman’s Cycling Road Race at the Rio Olympics. She was only 20 seconds behind the winner and finished 7th in the second pack.

As a celebration for her hard work and determination, now through the end of the Olympics on August 20th, you can use the code YEAHFLAVIA and SAVE 25% and get FREE SHIPPING on the purchase of 2 jars of Pure Clean Powder.

Here’s why Pure Clean Powder is consider physical fitness in a jar and certainly played a role in Flavia’s success: